Ian Botham
Ian Terence Botham
Born: 24 November 1955, Oldfield, Heswall, Cheshire
Major Teams: Somerset, Worcestershire, Queensland, Durham, England.
Known As: Ian Botham
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast Medium
Test Debut: England v Australia at Nottingham, 3rd Test, 1977
Last Test: England v Pakistan at Lord's, 2nd Test, 1992
ODI Debut: England v West Indies at Scarborough, Prudential Trophy, 1976
Last ODI: England v Pakistan at Manchester, Texaco Trophy, 1992
First Class Debut: Somerset v Lancashire at Taunton, 1974
Last First Class Match: Durham v Australians at Durham, 1993
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1978
Career Statistics:
TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 102 161 6 5200 208 33.54 60.71 14 22 120 0
Balls M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 21815 788 10878 383 28.40 8-34 27 4 56.9 2.99
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 116 106 15 2113 79 23.21 79.10 0 9 36 0
Balls M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 6271 109 4139 145 28.54 4-31 3 0 43.2 3.96
FIRST-CLASS
(career: 1974 - 1993)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 402 617 46 19399 228 33.97 38 97 354 0
Balls R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 63547 31902 1172 27.22 8-34 59 8 54.2 3.01
LIST A LIMITED OVERS
(career: 1973 - 1993)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 470 419 64 10474 175* 29.50 7 46 196 0
Balls R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 22899 15264 612 24.94 5-27 15 3 37.4 3.99
- Explanations of First-Class and List A status courtesy of the ACS.
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Profile:
A scriptwriter submitting the life story of Ian Botham to a publisher would
have had it thrown back in his face for being unrealistic. How could any
single player win Test matches (and indeed an entire Ashes series) virtually
on his own; appear on so many newspaper front pages as well as back pages
(and not always for the right reasons); and shatter cricketing records
seemingly at will. He was a hero, utterly fearless and he frequently carried
the hopes of an entire nation on those broad shoulders.
The windmill twirl of his bat as he strode to the wicket was his
signature, one that earned him a taunt from bowler Dick Collinge when Botham
appeared in his fourth Test in Christchurch against New Zealand as a brash
22-year-old. "Oh yeah, son, you and whose army?" teased Collinge. He soon
had his answer. Botham cracked 103 runs, finished the game with eight
wickets and took England to a 174-run victory. The world had been warned.
Botham's entry into domestic cricket was no less dramatic. Though born in
Heswall in Cheshire, his formative years were in Yeovil and it was for
Somerset that he played most of his cricket. As a callow 18-year-old playing
in the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1974, he encountered Andy Roberts, one of the
world's greatest fast bowlers. Roberts duly felled him with a short one but
Botham picked himself up and, literally spitting blood, proceeded to hit an
unbeaten 45 to take Somerset to a one-wicket win.
Botham's Test debut came against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1977 when
he took five wickets - dismissed as "flukey" in some quarters. But another
five in the next Test at Leeds made people sit up and take notice. His great
weapon was his prodigious outswing which had the slips licking their
fingers. And, of course, there was also his batting. He was so powerful that
mishits would frequently go for four but he had superb technique; he played
very straight with many of his runs coming between mid on and mid off, but
he was an equally adept cutter and a fearless hooker. And just to cap his
abilities, in the slips he would take remarkable catches, getting down very
quickly for a big man. He finished his international career with 120
catches, equalling Colin Cowdrey's record.
At times Botham's incredible all-round performances seemed commonplace.
After that fourth Test against New Zealand, his seventh Test at Lord's
against Pakistan saw him hit a hundred and take eight for 34; at Mumbai in
1980 in the Golden Jubilee Test, he hit 114 and took 13 Indian wickets for
106 - the first time that anybody had scored a century and taken ten wickets
in a Test.
There followed a dip in form which coincided with his being appointed
captain in 1980. Both Botham and the team struggled and, following a defeat
and a draw in the first two home Tests of the Ashes series in 1981, Mike
Brearley took over the captaincy. It was a move which created the stuff of
legend. In the Third Test at Headingley, with England following on and
seemingly in a hopeless position, Botham launched an astonishing
counter-attack and hit an unbeaten 149 to set the stage for Bob Willis to
bowl out the Australians and give England victory by 18 runs. In the next
Test at Edgbaston, Botham was again the hero. With Australia needing 151 for
victory, they were apparently easing towards their target at 105 for four
until Botham came on to bowl and proceeded to take five wickets for one run
in 28 balls. The heart had been ripped out of the Australians. Botham went
on to score another majestic century in the next Test at Old Trafford as the
visitors lost the series 3-1.
It was Botham's finest hour in an international career that was to carry on
for another 11 years. In that time he reached 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in
21 matches and took his 100 wickets in two years nine days, both feats
setting new records. He went on to take 200 wickets and score 2,000 runs in
record time, both by age and number of Tests (42), and was the youngest
player to take 200 Test wickets. He finished with 383 wickets and 5,200 runs
in his 102 Tests. He also hit the fastest Test double century off 220 balls
against India at the Oval in 1982.
Botham's career at Somerset coincided with the county's most successful
era. They also boasted the majestic Viv Richards and the imposing Joel
Garner. Between the three of them they took the one-day game in England by
the scruff of the neck. Without a major honour before the trio's arrival,
Somerset won the Sunday league and Gillette Cup in 1979, the Benson & Hedges
Cup in 1981 and 1982 and the NatWest trophy in 1983. The county also
equalled their highest County Championship position of third in 1981.
Botham's most successful season for Somerset with the bat came in 1985 when
he amassed 1,530 runs, including a remarkable 80 sixes. He hit 1,000 runs in
a season four times and took 100 wickets in 1978. Botham captained Somerset
in 1984 and 1985 but the following year there followed an acrimonious split
with the county as he quit in sympathy with Richards and Garner who had been
sacked.
Botham went on to join Worcestershire where he stayed until 1991. A
serious back injury threatened to end his career but he overcame it and
returned to Test cricket in 1989. His last club was Durham, the newest
county in the championship. He finally hung up his boots mid-season in 1993,
saying his body could no longer take the strain.
With a larger-than-life character like Botham, there were always likely
to be non-cricketing stories that would make headlines. He was banned from
first-class cricket for two months in 1986 for taking cannabis and admitting
in a newspaper article that he had used the drug. He also sued Imran Khan
for libel and lost in 1996. But in that same year he was appointed England's
technical adviser for the tour to Zimbabwe and New Zealand.
Remarkably for such a big man - not for nothing was he known as "Beefy" he played professional football, albeit for Scunthorpe. After leaving
cricket, Botham became a respected television commentator on the game. He
also became renowned for his long-distance walks - including one across the
Alps retracing Hannibal's steps - raising more than five million pounds for
leukaemia research. In 1992 he was awarded the OBE for services to cricket
and his charity work. (Graham Holburn, Copyright CricInfo 2001)
Last Updated: Tuesday, 29-Oct-2002 22:57:26 GMT
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